Hope Never Dies
by Hopeakaarme
Summary: Hermione is stargazing. Her husband Remus comes to talk with her about their lost friends, Harry and Sirius, and their sacrifice. And, despite their sorrow, they still dare to hope. SLASH mentioned SBHP.


Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: Going through my files, I found a fic I'd apparently never got around to submitting. So, here's an angsty bit of a het fic (RL/HG) with a hint of slash (SB/HP) mentioned.

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Hope Never Dies

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Hermione stood in the garden. It was a freezing night in the beginning of winter, but she didn't care; she simply wrapped her cloak tighter around her. Her gaze was locked at the sky, or, to be more accurate, at two big, bright stars right next ot each other. 

"Hermione, love? What are you doing outside?"

Startled, the witch turned around. When she saw the familiar figure of her husband, she relaxed. "Remus," she said weakly. "I didn't hear you coming."

"You're more than a little jumpy today," the werewolf stated when he walked to her. "What exactly were you doing here, if my arrival made you jump two feet to the air?"

"What? Oh, nothing. You just startled me -- I wasn't really aware of my surroundings. I was just stargazing. Stars are so beautiful, aren't they?" She nodded towards the endless sky above them. "Especially the brightest ones."

"Oh, yes." Remus walked nearer and came to stand beside her. "Sirius and Harry."

"It was very kind from them to name the star after him."

"Ah, but they didn't really have a choice, then did they? It is the sign of the defeat of Voldemort, after all." Remus asked, smiling a little bit. Then his smile faded away again. "Sometimes... Sometimes I wish everything had gone differently."

"Differently?" she echoed. "What do you mean? That they'd survived?" She smiled gently at her husband and squeezed his hand. "There wasn't any other choice, you know that. They couldn't have done anything else."

"I know." He sighed deep. "We knew that Harry had to die... I think we knew it all along. Far from the beginning. And as for Sirius -- they loved each other, Hermione. They were in love with each other. I think that if Dumbledore had gone with Harry, like he had planned, Sirius would have killed himself."

She nodded, tears filling her eyes. "They loved each other more than anything else in the world," she admitted. "Sometimes I think that was the only thing that made them able to defeat Voldemort. That if it had been Dumbledore to go, Voldemort would have won."

"Exactly." Remus hugged her tightly. Then he looked again up to the sky. Hermione followed his gaze to the two brightest stars. One of them was a star that had given name to a brave, great man; another, only visible to wizarding eyes, was a star named after another man, even braver and stronger and greater -- if that was even possible.

"At least they can be together now," she whispered aloud the thoughts of both of them. "Together, forever. Like they always wished to be." She was silent for a moment, then she continued, "I only wish they'd been able to be together alive."

"Ah, but then we don't know if they are still alive, do we?" Remus asked, with a little twinkle in his eyes. "We never saw them die. We only saw Voldemort, dead for good this time, and they had disappeared. Maybe -- maybe they are somewhere together now, with nothing to worry about."

She tried to smile at her husband's carefree statement, but failed. Her lips trembled, when she struggled against tears. "Sometimes I think so," she said. "But usually I believe... that they are gone, for good." She bit her lips. "Then I always think how it was to them when they were alive... And... Oh, Remus, I believe they're happier now, no matter where they are at the moment."

"I believe so also." Remus embraced her warmly. "Come on, love. Let's get back inside. It's freezing here, and you don't want to catch cold, do you?"

"I suppose not." She smiled weakly and followed him in their house. It was warm and nice inside. They sat down on the couch in front of the fireplace, Remus' arm around her shoulders. For some time they only sat like that, not saying a word.

After a moment, she broke the silence. "We never told them," she stated calmly.

"No, we didn't." Remus smiled sadly. "Even when they admitted their own love, we remained silent. You remember? We planned to tell them the night after that..."

"And when the night came, it was already too late," she finished the sentence.

"Exactly." He was quiet for a moment, then continued, "What do you think... What would they have said?"

Hermione couldn't help but chuckle. "You're crazy." She grinned. "They had the same age difference as we have, and they were both men, and Sirius was his godfather... God, what could they have said about _us_, besides maybe 'I knew that' or 'Should we have double wedding?'"

"Maybe you're right." Remus smiled at her. "I suppose we were both just too shocked about it. I mean, it was a bit weird after all... And not even a bit. It was _very_ surprising. I thought that Ron was going to choke when he heard it."

She snickered. "Well, it _was_ something that would kill Ron, wasn't it? We were all calmly sitting at the dinner table, and he was just swallowing a forkfull of potatoes, when Harry said, 'By the way, I and Sirius are in love with each other'. God, I thought that McGonagall was going to faint!"

"I was in fact surprised she didn't." He smiled a little bit to the memories. Then he sighed deep once again. "I'm so sorry that we never told them."

"As am I."

They remained silent for a moment. This time it was Remus to break the silence. "I hope," he said, "I hope that Minerva is happy with Albus. I hope that everyone is happy."

"Mmm," was all that she replied.

The werewolf raised his eyebrows, looking surprised. "What's wrong, dear?" he asked, locking his amber eyes at her. "Just a moment before you were more talkative than you've been for weeks, and now you only reply 'Mmm.' What has gotten to you?"

"I was just wondering... when Ron and Parvati already have little Harriet..."

"Yes, love? What were you thinking?" Remus asked, wrapping his strong arms around her shoulders.

"We don't seem to have any other choice but name our son Sirius, then do we?" she asked, giving her husband a bright smile.

"What?" Remus blinked. Then a wide, warm smile appeared on his face. "You don't mean..."

"Oh yes, I do," she smiled. "Wait only a few months, and soon there'll be three Lupins around."

He smiled and drew her into an even warmer and tighter embrace than before. "If someone had told me half a year ago that on this date Voldemort would be defeated, I'd be married to you and I'd be becoming a father, I'd have told the person to get his head examined."

"I wouldn't have," she replied. "And you wouldn't have, either. I know you -- you always hope."

"Of course I do," he smiled. "People die, sweetheart -- we know that better than we'd like to. But hope never dies -- never."

"You're right," she replied, wrapping one of his golden tresses around her fingers. "Hope never dies."


End file.
